Katiya (Lady-General Katiya Valenor-Stormlark)
APPEARANCE Katiya is a young half-elven woman who stands at about 5'6, and has an athletic build. She has long silver-white hair that hangs tosseled over her shoulders; some of the locks are braided and bound with silver cuffs, the rest is loose. Her bright lavender eyes are cool and calculating. She tends to always have a solemn expression on her face. She is garbed in archaic-looking silver half-plate mail. A wicked looking glaive is never far from her side, and a cape of pale lavender hangs from her back. Circling the back of her head to her ears sits a strange, gothic-style silver crown with jagged spikes. BACKGROUND Katiya was born in the 6th Sanctus Era, almost 700 years ago. Her half-elven parents were nobility in the kingdom of Eclain, in Alythria. She was raised at a quiet country estate not far from the capital city, where her uncle, the King of Eclain, resided. Katiya quickly discovered she had no interest in the normal feminine pursuits, instead choosing to spend her childhood hunting, learning swordplay, and reading. She became enamored with tales of great battles and the strategies of generals past. By the time she was eight, Katiya was sparring and often defeating the guards at her estate. When she was 10, Eclain entered into a war with the neighboring kingdom of Ironwall. For a year, citizens went to battle, farms burned, and her people suffered. Frustrated that she was just a young girl and unable to help, Katiya delved back into her strategy books and studied the moves of Ironwall's forces. At age 11, she penned a letter to her uncle, the king, and beseeched him to try a new strategy- her strategy- against their opponents. Impressed by her wit, the King showed his niece's suggestions to his generals, who put the plan into play. Shortly after, the armies of Eclain forced Ironwall from it's occupancy, and after months of stalemate, a treaty of peace was signed. Shortly after, Katiya was summoned to court and was squired to the King himself. With the most talented tutors and swordsmen in the country at her disposal, Katiya quickly became a child prodigy. By fourteen, she had seen battle firsthand, and was given knighthood. By sixteen, she was commanding her own regiment, and at the age of eighteen, she was made General of Eclain's army; The Army of the Four Winds. She was a popular figurehead, and well-loved by her troops, whom she treated well. On the battlefield she was a cold, calculating strategist, and she was given the nickname The Frigid Blade. Around her twentieth year, the dragons came. From the distant, looming peaks of the Skyward mountains (called the Lichtop Mountains in the present time), Eclain suffered greatly as multiple dragons terrorized the country. Katiya and her armies fought bravely, but quickly dwindled in number under the assault. Facing ruin and starvation, the King of Eclain reached out to Ironwall; their former enemy, and offered a treaty of marriage in return for aid and troops to assist in the defeat of the dragon menace. Ironwall agreed, and sent their Crown Prince, Bree Stormlark, to pick his wife from one of Eclain's princesses. To the shock of all involved, Stormlark rejected the kings daughters, and instead picked Katiya Valenor as his bride, after seeing her drilling her troops on the practice field. Katiya begged her King to refuse, but he held firm, reminding her of her duty to the crown. She had no choice but to agree, and so was betrothed to a prince she had never met. Two years passed; Ironwall kept their promise of aid, and when it seemed that the dragon threat was finally coming to an end, Katiya was sent to Ironwall, where she wed Prince Bree Stormlark on her 22nd birthday. Despite it being an arranged marriage, the two quickly became inseperable; Bree was an accomplished warrior in his own right. He gave Katiya a pet name; the Silver Princess, and that is how she came to be known to the people of Ironwall. He gifted Katiya with a silver and violet pendant that he vowed would always keep her safe. A year later, their daughter Breeya was born. Working together, Katiya and Bree spent the next year leading the joined forces of their two armies in a final effort to end the dragons once and for all. In the end, they seemed victorious. Bree approached Katiya and told her that his scouts had located a cavern at the base of the mountains that had been abandoned by the dragons they had likely slain. He suggested that she take a small contingent of men to collect the hoard of treasure, while he and the men licked their wounds. As a young woman in love, Katiya's strategic mind failed her, and she didn't see through her husbands deception. Upon entering the cave, she and her few men found it occupied by a white dragon, and while they fought valiantly, she watched them die one by one, until finally she stood alone. She struck a blow against the dragon's eye, partially blinding it, but it wasn't enough. Her death was imminent. Her last memory was one of cold, and ice. Seven centuries later, a group of adventurers from the Burning Phoenix guild stumbled upon the cave. After defeating the dragon, they found his prized treasure; the preserved, frozen body of General Katiya Valenor-Stormlark, the Silver Princess, and awakened her. Her former life completely gone, Katiya is now left to deal with her lost family, lost kingdom, and the betrayal that will haunt her forever. Category:Player Character